Defining soldier equipment trade space: load effects on combat marksmanship and perception–action coupling

Soldier equipment compromises task performance as temporal constraints during critical situations and load increase inertial and interactive forces during movement. Methods are necessary to optimise equipment that relate task performance to underlying coordination and perception–action coupling. Employing ecological task analysis and methods from dynamical systems theory, equipment load and coordination was examined during two sub-tasks embedded in combat performance, threat discrimination and dynamic marksmanship. Perception–action coupling was degraded with load during threat discrimination, leading to delays in functional reaction time. Reduced speed and accuracy during dynamic marksmanship under load was related to disrupted segmental coordination and adaptability during postural transitions between targets. These results show how reduced performance under load relates to coordination changes and perception–action coupling. These changes in functional capability are directly related to soldier survivability in combat. The methods employed may aid equipment design towards more optimised performance by modifying equipment or its distribution on humans.     

Epistemology and conceptual resources for the development of learning technologies

Abstract   The issues raised by the design and development of technologies to enhance learning has led to a demand for an appropriate language and form of conceptualization. However, we are insufficiently familiar with the way in which different types of mediated tool use occur, to develop the theoretical models needed for the development of this language and form of conceptualization. In its absence a somewhat eclectic variety of concepts and research, such as the concept of affordance, are recruited in accounts of learning with new technologies. In looking briefly at the relevant area in philosophy this paper will consider whether or not the use of concepts such as affordance give adequate weight to social practice, meaning and knowledge in the design of educational technology. A fruitful source for work in this field which has not been sufficiently exploited is philosophy, particularly recent work in epistemology.     

Investigating haptic distance-to-break using linear and nonlinear materials in a simulated minimally invasive surgery task

Accurate detection of mediated haptic information in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is critical for applying appropriate force magnitudes onto soft tissue with the aim of minimising tissue trauma. Force perception in MIS is a dynamic process, with surgeons’ administration of force into tissue revealing information about the remote surgical site which further informs the surgeons’ haptic interactions. The relationship between applied force and material deformation rate provides biomechanical information specifying the deformation distance remaining until a tissue will fail: which is termed distance-to-break (DTB). The current study demonstrates that observers can detect DTB while deforming simulated tissues and stop before reaching the tissues’ failure points. The design of training simulators, control devices and automated robotic systems for applications outside of MIS is discussed.

Practitioner Summary: In MIS, haptic information is critical for applying appropriate forces onto soft tissue to minimise tissue trauma. Observers used force information to detect how far they could deform a virtual tissue before it would break. The design of training simulators, control devices and automated robotic systems is discussed.     

Modeling Multimodal Expression of User’s Affective Subjective Experience

With the growing importance of information technology in our everyday life, new types of applications are appearing that require the understanding of information in a broad sense. Information that includes affective and subjective content plays a major role not only in an individual’s cognitive processes but also in an individual’s interaction with others. We identify three key points to be considered when developing systems that capture affective information: embodiment (experiencing physical reality), dynamics (mapping experience and emotional state with its label) and adaptive interaction (conveying emotive response, responding to a recognized emotional state). We present two computational systems that implement those principles: MOUE (Model Of User Emotions) is an emotion recognition system that recognizes the user’s emotion from his/her facial expressions, and from it, adaptively builds semantic definitions of emotion concepts using the user’s feedback; MIKE (Multimedia Interactive Environment for Kansei communication) is an interactive adaptive system that, along with the user, co-evolves a language for communicating over subjective impressions.     

Towards cognitive evaluation of computer-drawn sketches

This paper seeks to raise visual comparisons beyond subjective opinions into evidence-based visual reasoning. It provides an informal deductive analysis of the marks in sketches derived with two competing line-filtering algorithms. This prompted the novel speculation that the visual system might be placing some types of anomalies in the foreground of mental 3D space, where they can be ignored. A brief survey is provided to encourage informed debate. Although the proposed cognitive computation was not automated, it justified the rejection of the Douglas–Peucker algorithm in favour of Visvalingam's algorithm in subsequent research within the Cartographic Information Systems Research Group (CISRG).     

Towards an American Sign Language interface

In this paper, we present two major parts of an interface for American Sign Language (ASL) to computer applications currently under work; a hand tracker and an ASL-parser. The hand tracker extracts information about handshape, position and motion from image sequences. As an aid in this process, the signer wears a pair of gloves with colour-coded markers on joints and finger tips. We also present a computational model of American Sign Language. This model is realized in an ASL-parser which consists of a DCG-grammar and a non-lexical component that records non-manual and spatial information over an ASL-discourse.     

Towards the construction of an eigenvalue engine

In this paper a new algorithm for the computation of the eigenvalues of real symmetric matrices is presented. The algorithm may be expressed in terms of a collection of communicating process and is suitable for implementation as a dedicated engine constructed from a network of transputers. However, it can also be efficiently implemented on a multiprocessor supercomputer such as the CRAY X-MP or on a set of interconnected SIMD machines.     

Towards an algebraic theory of information integration

Information integration systems provide uniform interfaces to varieties of heterogeneous information sources. For query answering in such systems, the current generation of query answering algorithms in local-as-view (source-centric) information integration systems all produce what has been thought of as “the best obtainable” answer, given the circumstances that the source-centric approach introduces incomplete information into the virtual global relations. However, this “best obtainable” answer does not include all information that can be extracted from the sources because it does not allow partial information. Neither does the “best obtainable” answer allow for composition of queries, meaning that querying a result of a previous query will not be equivalentto the composition of the two queries. In this paper, we provide a foundation for information integration, based on the algebraic theory of incomplete information. Our framework allows us to define the semantics of partial facts and introduce the notion of the exact answer—that is the answer that includes partial facts. We show that querying under the exact answer semantics is compositional. We also present two methods for actually computing the exact answer. The first method is tableau-based, and it is a generalization of the “inverse-rules” approach. The second, much more efficient method, is a generalization of the rewriting approach, and it is based on partial containment mappings introduced in the paper.     

IT managers’ vs. IT auditors’ perceptions of risks: An actor–observer asymmetry perspective

With the growing role of information technology (IT), many organizations struggle with IT-related risks. Both IT managers and IT auditors are involved in assessing, monitoring, and reporting IT risks, but this does not necessarily mean that they share the same views. In this study, we draw upon the actor–observer asymmetry perspective to understand differences in IT managers’ vs. IT auditors’ perceptions of risks. Through a quasi-experiment with 76 employees of a financial institution, we found that IT managers and IT auditors showed the expected actor–observer differences. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.     

Towards an extensible simulator of real motion platforms

The limitations of a real motion platform will not normally be discovered until it is completely built and tested. Late identification of its limitations imposes the necessity of a redesign of the motion platform. This, in turn, incurs important and significant economic costs for the manufacturer. Note that any change in the original design of the motion platform requires an investment in resources, money and time in order to perform the re-design of the platform. The main contribution of this paper is to address this problem by creating a virtual motion platform (VMP). This virtual motion platform is a computer-based simulation of a real motion platform which produces the same outputs as the real platform when it receives the same inputs. The VMP has been designed to easily replace the real platform in order to avoid damage to the real system, avoid the potential for human injuries and reduce costs, among other advantages. The model is extensible, enabling the simulation of different kinds of real motion platforms in real-time. The VMP has been validated against a real system implementation. This prototype has been validated against two real motion platforms that we have in our labs: a T3R3 (6DoF) and a T1R2 (3DoF) platform. Extensive empirical tests have been performed and the results show that the VPM exhibits a deviation of less than 3% with respect to the real motion platform, which is a really reasonable result considering the complexity of the simulation. We have also demonstrated that our simulation is capable of running faster than real-time being able to perform batch simulations on many different design iterations.     

Towards an algebraic theory of typed mobile processes

The impact of types on the algebraic theory of the π-calculus is studied. The type system has capability types. They allow one to distinguish between the ability to read from a channel, to write to a channel, and both to read and to write. They also give rise to a natural and powerful subtyping relation.

Two variants of typed bisimilarity are considered, both in their late and in their early version. For both of them, proof systems that are sound and complete on the closed finite terms are given. For one of the two variants, a complete axiomatisation for the open finite terms is also presented.     

Towards an ontology-based retrieval of UML Class Diagrams

Context

Software Reuse has always been an important area amongst software companies in order to increase their productivity and the quality of their products, but code reuse is not the only answer for this. Nowadays, reuse techniques proposals include software designs or even software specifications. Therefore, this research focuses on software design, specifically on UML Class Diagrams. A semantic technology has been applied to facilitate the retrieval process for an effective reuse.

Objective

This research proposes an ontology-based retrieval technique by semantic similarity in order to support effective retrieval process for UML Class Diagrams. Since UML Class Diagrams are a de facto standard in the design stages of a Software Development Process, a good technique is needed to reuse them, i.e. reusing during the design stage instead of just the coding stages.

Method

An application ontology modeled using UML specifications was designed to compare UML Class Diagram element types. To measure their similarity, a survey was conducted amongst UML experts. Query expansion was improved by a domain ontology supporting the retrieval phase. The calculus of minimal distances in ontologies was solved using a shortest path algorithm.

Results

The case study shows the domain ontology importance in the UML Class Diagram retrieval process as well as the importance of an element type expansion method, such as an application ontology. A correlation between the query complexity and retrieved elements has been identified, by analyzing results. Finally, a positive Return of Investment (ROI) was estimated using Poulin’s Model.

Conclusion

Because Software Reuse has not to be limited to the coding stage, approaches to reuse design stage must be developed, i.e. UML Class Diagrams reuse. This approach proposes a technique for UML Class Diagrams retrieval, which is one important step towards reuse. Semantic technology combined with information retrieval improves the retrieval results.     

Towards an efficient training of university faculty on ICTs

This article presents the results of a research study that took place during the 2007–2008 academic year at the University of the Basque Country³. (UPV/EHU in its Spanish and Basque acronyms). The research’s goal was to establish the guidelines for training opportunities in information and communication technologies (ICTs) that could better address the needs of the faculty at the aforementioned university. The conclusive results provide a picture of the necessary training in ICTs that the faculty requires for their teaching as well as for conducting research. This led us to develop some suggestions that are related to the modular organization of past and present training courses as well as improved guidelines that would help us to restructure the design of the training currently being offered. This restructuring is fundamental in order to include ICTs in the new European space of higher education (ESHE)⁴.     

Towards an integrated view of 3-D computer animation

To automate character animation and extend it to 3-D we need to create and manipulate three-dimensional models of articulated figures as well as the worlds they will inhabit.Abstraction andadaptive motion are key mechanisms for dealing with thedegrees of freedom problem, which refers to the sheer volume of control information necessary for coordinating the motion of an articulated figure when the number of links is large. A three level hierarchy of control modes for animation is proposed:guiding, animator-level, andtask-level systems. Guiding is best suited for specifiying fine details but unsuited for controlling complex motion. Animatorlevel programming is powerful but difficult. Task-level systems give us facile control over complex motions and tasks by trading off explicit control over the details of motion. The integration of the three control levels is discussed.